Club Australia: Frank Arok's Socceroos of the '80s
Since his passing two days ago, there has been significant reflection on the contribution Frank Arok made to Australian football.
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Since his passing two days ago, there has been significant reflection on the contribution Frank Arok made to Australian football.
Former Socceroos coach Ferenc ‘Frank’ Arok has passed away at the age of 88. He was one of the most influential football figures in the sport’s rollercoaster history in this country.
There are many sportsmen and women who can lay claim to being the greatest at what they do. They can be called champions. They can retire and achieve legend status.
The National Rugby League are planning to restart the competition on May 28, despite the probability that most of the population will still be required to practice social distancing or self-isolation.
A flick through Fox’s various sports channels revealed the way in which the pay TV provider was filling the massive gaps left by the suspension of just about every sporting competition in the world at the moment.
The 1970s had turned this gangly kid into a football tragic, complete with the requisite muddy role-playing of rain-soaked English games in a northern beaches backyard.
It was a May night in 1972 when my mother and grandmother made a decision that would change my life. They woke me up at about 11.45pm for a special treat: to sit down and watch the English FA Cup final between Leeds United and Arsenal.
One heel click of the red-and-black shoes and the Western Sydney Wanderers were back where they belong.
For long-suffering fans of the Central Coast Mariners, Wednesday’s FFA Cup semi-final against Adelaide United represented a rekindling of that vision of the promised land.
Last Saturday night in Sydney, Heartbeat of Football – a fundraising organisation founded and driven by well-known football identity Andy Paschalidis – hosted the first ever reunion of players, coaches and identities from the National Soccer League.
Whatever the merits of a top-six final series in a ten-team competition, the number of teams who make the A-League play-offs is unlikely to change now, with the impending addition of two more teams in the next two seasons.
The catalogue of disasters emanating from Gosford came to an awful head on Saturday night.
Now that the wildly successful Russia World Cup is but a happy fading memory, the football world’s attention has gone back to intensely disliking the thought of where the next edition of the greatest show on earth will be hosted.
Throughout Australia, sleep-deprived fans awoke this morning with the feeling that a good friend had been farewelled, not to be seen for another four years.
England and Croatia are two nations who have put an indelible stamp on the history of football development in Australia, so it was inevitable their semi-final at Russia 2018 would be of more than just passing interest to locals.
If the England-Colombia game was a novel, it’d be the kind of thriller that relied on predictable violence leading up to a couple of late twists and then an ending no-one saw coming.
A colleague of mine told me it was time to move on from the Socceroos familiar lament and stick my neck out over which country is going to be the one to hold aloft the big gold trophy on July 15th.
Yes, for Australia it’s over before the knockout phase. Again. The blood-letting has begun from the usual suspects, some of it informed, some of it predictably not.
With all countries in the World Cup having played two matches, a fascinating last round is in store for at least six of the eight groups, with only two pools knowing the two countries who will be progressing to the round of 16.
In 2010, Pim Verbeek took the Socceroos to the World Cup finals in South Africa on the back of an almost perfect qualifying campaign.
Admiral, it was on the list but I realised most of the games I had there went to penalty shootouts!
Ten classic football flashbacks I’d love to see on TV
Brian
…and that game came a few days after one of Australia’s most famous victories – a 4-1 trouncing of the reigning world champions Argentina, complete with the Charlie Yankos “wonder goal.”
How the '80s made football my life
Middy, I watched the first two episodes last night on the recommendation of my partner (we are isolated from each other at the moment) Great show.
How the 1970s made me a football tragic
Kangas
I did play for Newcastle Austral – fantastic memories from those days, with every second weekend a road trip from Birmingham Gardens to Sydeny, Wollongong or Canberra.
How the 1970s made me a football tragic
How do you get the Match of the Day theme as a ringtone?? Please educate me!
How the 1970s made me a football tragic
MarkfromCroydon, I was the same – I thought the FA Cup winners were the best team in England. It took an old coach of mine in the Under 15s to set me straight – he was a Scouser and while Liverpool kept winning the league, they hadn’t won the cup since 1974, so when I suggested that the cup winner was the champion side, he would gently remind me that to win the cup, you had to win 6 games – to win the league you had to be the best after 42 games (as it was then)
How the 1970s made me a football tragic
That was the game, 1979 final, Arsenal v Manchester United, and Man Utd scored in the 87th and 88th minutes to take the game to 2-2 before Alan Sunderland scored in the 90th minute to win it.
How the 1970s made me a football tragic
This is what works: fudging participation numbers to try and get AIS funding; paying local councils under the table to quarantine suburban grounds so only Aussie Rules can be played on them (even if there are no registered clubs in the LGA); assuming that AFLW was the invention of womens sport; sweeping widespread allegations of player misbehaviour under a carpet of obliging media until the carpet becomes too lumpy. Not sure I’d want to grovel at those feet.
The code wars are here, so let's have at it
The Eels sellout was the first event of any kind at the stadium. It received massive publicity and was always going to be full, whether tickets were sold or given away (I’m not suggesting there were loads of freebies, I don’t know) The next home game will most surely sell out, being the Sydney derby.
Six talking points from A-League Round 1
The biggest talking point: There is no A League fantasy competition! Fox Sports, who seem to care less about the A League every season, have stopped running the one they had going, so is there a fantasy league out there, anywhere? Roar…?
Six talking points from A-League Round 1
You might have missed the pun.
Going to games is more important than marketing campaigns
Goalkeeping is a dirty deed, done dirt cheap.
Going to games is more important than marketing campaigns
Agreed, Simon should have been awarded a penalty, don’t know how the referee missed that.
We need to talk about Matt Simon
Nemesis
Is that really how the 6 extra rounds will be decided? That’s…ridiculous. I’m not sure whether there are other football leagues that play uneven numbers of games but it certainly happens in the two other codes here in Australia. I think the NRL determines its extra rounds based on a formula around the final placements of teams the previous season.
It's the most important A-League season ever - so let's see a fixture list
I am completely nonplussed as to why the A League is SHORTENING the season by one round despite adding a new team. 11 teams equals 30 games with everyone playing each other three times. This negates the messy tinkering needed to make an 11 team competition play 26 rounds. It can’t be that hard to add 3 rounds into the competition. After all, there have been 12 teams in the league in the past.
It's the most important A-League season ever - so let's see a fixture list
They certainly did, Macca. Vince Savoca was there, looking as fit as ever.
The night old soccer came home
Hi JB
Andrew’s son Steve was at the function, it was great to catch up with him too.
The night old soccer came home
I’m suggesting it. Only because Mark Rudan virtually admitted it in his post-match press conference.
Does form count for anything going into the A-League finals?
I’ll mention it every minute if we get a Grand Final like that one!
Does form count for anything going into the A-League finals?
Hi Nat
If my article suggested that the NRL were looking for “special treatment” I apologise for the inference. However, my concern is with the image that will be portrayed by blokes crashing into each other while the rest of us can’t even give our mum a hug. Sometimes the right message for sport to portray is to be the best reflection of society. These are difficult times for all.
A message to the big leagues: Don't play until we all can